


The Unseen Future

by Soulesstar



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alex Hirsch is now a gnome, Bill's actually a nice person/demon, Child Abuse, Death, F/M, I'm Sorry, M/M, Pines twins and Corona are 13, Post-Weirdmageddon, Rating May Change, Runaway, Stans are on the Stan O War, Suicide, The Future is Weird, a deal is struck, blame it on the bullies, disease developed from weirdmageddon, for now, mild swearing, title may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-14 05:37:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8000518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soulesstar/pseuds/Soulesstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She never thought she’d have to do this. She never thought she’d have to run away.</p><p>She’d thought that it would get better, that it wouldn’t last for long. She never thought that it would last for 4 years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Runaway

**Friday Night**

 

_She never thought she’d have to do this. She never thought she’d have to run away._

_She’d thought that it would get better, that it wouldn’t last for long. She never thought that it would last for 4 years._

_Normally she would just go to school with a red mark on her face. Her friends would ask about what had happened and she would always say that it was one of the bullies. Her friends thought it came from school . . . they never would have guessed it was from home._

_Until the day she drew blood from one of his hits, she never would have done anything. He was really mad that day. Usually he would slap her and argue with her mother but this time he pinned her against the wall by her neck, blocking off her air ways and punched her repeatedly as her mother desperately clawed at his back for him to **let her go.**_

_She’d run up to her room and locked the door, gasping for air and rubbing her neck. She’d grabbed her duffel bag and stuffed it with toiletries, all the money she had and as many clothes as would fit. She didn’t know where she was going so she kept it neutral, hoodies, t-shirts, jeans and leggings. She’d grabbed her phone and its charger, thrown on a hoodie and jumped out the window. She’d carefully navigated her way down the grapevine, grabbed her bike and rode to the nearest bus station as quickly as she could._

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Saturday Morning**

Thinking about her decision hurt. She’d miss all her friends. She could feel the sting of every slap she’d received from her father and she could feel the blood running from her nose. She wiped at it with one of the many tissues she’d taken from the bus station, they didn’t seem to mind. Somehow she’d convinced them to let her bring her bike on the bus with her. It was probably the look of fear, desperation and pain on her face.

 

Her phone buzzed. She reached under the seat in front of her and grabbed it from her bag. She checked her massages. **32 UNREAD.** Her friends were asking where she is. She deleted all her contacts. She was leaving her old life behind her and that included her friends. This was her chance to change her future, her family’s future. This was her chance to start anew. She was sick of being Caitlyn O’Higgins. She thought of her birthmark. How perfect her nickname was. She looked outside. They were driving past a bunch of trees. Oak trees.

“I hereby dub thy Corona Oakley.” She muttered. Tapping her left shoulder with her phone, then her right. She giggled. Finally she could feel herself falling asleep.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

_She could hear the creature’s loud breaths and her heart pounding in her chest. She didn’t dare turn around to see how close it was to her, she just kept running. She ran took a sharp left around a pine tree and straight into a dead end. Shit! She turned around to face the monster. It was a large, green monster that resembled a goblin, if goblins were six feet tall. It had gross fungi growing on its body and had bright yellow eyes._

_As it approached her, she found she wasn’t scared of it (she definitely should be), probably from the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She looked it in its eyes defiantly. That was a mistake._

_Her eyes widened as the forest around her dissolved into her bedroom back home. She was lying in bed with her head in a brace and both of her arms and legs broken. Her legs so badly damaged beyond the break that she could never walk again. Her older brother was sitting on a chair next to her, feeding her pieces of while their parents could be heard arguing downstairs. They were yelling at each other, so loud and so much so that Corona was getting a headache. Until the yelling and screaming was interrupted by a loud crash and then nothing._

_Her eyes were watering. Her mother was gone and her father’s heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards the staircase. Her brother had stopped feeding her in favor of holding her hand and sobbing. She was shaking like a leaf. Her father bust the door open and stormed inside. He ripped her brother’s hand from her own and threw him and the chair to the ground. There was a loud snap and her brother lay perfectly still on the ground with his neck snapped over the back of the chair_ ***I don’t know if that’s even possible, just roll with it*** _She screamed in pain for her mother and brother as her father stood over her and snapped her already weak neck._

__ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

She woke up screaming and sobbing on the bus. _Another vision._ She continued to cry. When she had looked into that monster’s eyes it had showed her greatest fear . . . her future. If she had stayed at home, **that** would have happened in a week. Now that she wasn’t there she hoped she could dodge that future and keep her mother and brother safe from her father.

She could tell the vision she’d had about the monster would happen in her immediate future, within the next 2 days. She knew that there was no point in trying to mentally fix herself from what she had seen, not when she would break again so soon. So she’d have to settle for preparing herself instead.

 

“Last stop; Gravity Falls!” The bus driver called out. It was only then she realized she was the only one left on the bus. She let down the window and stuck her head out. She took in a deep breath of pine trees and morning dew, letting the cool breeze ruffle her long chocolate brown hair.

 

The bus stopped. Corona walked up the aisle and thanked the driver before stepping off the bus. She realized that she had no idea where to go. She honestly never thought she’d make it this far. She decided that she would walk into town and try to find an inn to stay at for a while or maybe she could find an apartment to rent cheap. She should probably try to get a job, even if she was only 13.

 

She could hear a vehicle coming. She quickly moved off the side of the road. Judging by the noise that could heard coming from the vehicle it was a tourist bus. _It might be going into town,_ she thought. She decided to follow it.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

After 10 minutes of sprinting after the bus she realized that, no, it wasn’t going into town. It had stopped outside a tourist trap (that was somehow still in business), called the Mystery Shack. She had looked at some of the pictures the tourists had taken. The trap was made up of obviously fake ‘monsters’. How everybody else was oblivious to this, she had no idea. _I mean, c’mon! A **Sascrotch,** really?!_

 

She’d hung out the front of the shack for a bit, to catch her breath and rehydrate. She really needed to have something to drink but there was no way she was going inside that tourist trap, she needed to save her money and she was really easy to guilt trip. Luckily there was a drink tap by the side of the shack. She stuffed her bag under the decking and walked over to it. She refilled her water bottle, washed her face and left.

 

Her bag was still under the decking. _Thank god for that!_ She got her phone out and did a Google search for hotels in Gravity Falls. Nothing. Apartments for rent. Nada. Looks like she’d be sleeping in the forest tonight. Maybe the person/people who ran the shack would be so kind as to let her stay, at least just for the night. Even though it was only 11am, she felt it would be better to find somewhere to stay now, so that she could dump her bag.

 

The bus had just left. Good, now there would be no one to divert the manager’s attention. She walked in and **tried** not to roll her eyes at the ‘attractions’. It didn’t work, that well. The cashier smiled at her. Her name tag read: **Hello! My name is Melody** Corona smiled back.

 

“Hello, how can I help you?” Melody asked sweetly.

 

“Um, hi. My name’s Corona. I was wondering if I could stay the night here at the shack? Please? I have nowhere else to go.”

 

“You’ll have to ask my husband” Melody leaned closer to whisper in Corona’s ear. “Even though he’ll say yes” she giggled.

 

***That’s right people! Melody and Soos tied the knot. ;)***

“Soos!” Melody called.

 

“Y-yeah Melody” A man, who looked to be in his early twenties, came through a door labelled: **EMPLOYEE’S ONLY!** He was dressed in a black suit and wore a burgundy fez on top of his gerbil like face.

 

“This is Corona. She wanted to know if she could stay the night.” Melody asked, using her puppy dog eyes.

 

“Sure. I don’t see why not. It’ll be nice for Abuelita to have some company while we’re working.” Soos said. Corona was pretty sure that ‘abuelita’ was Spanish for Grandma and she assumed that Soos had just been with her.

 

“Thank you!” She shouted, running up to Soos and giving him a hug. Then froze and backed away when she realized that she had just hugged a complete stranger. “Sorry.”

 

Soos’ facial features softened. “That’s ok hambone. I-I mean dude.” Soos looked away awkwardly. “Uh, um just go through here.” He said gesturing to the **EMPLOYEE’S ONLY** door. “Melody, do you want to show her around?”

 

“Sure thing, bebé!” Melody lead the way through the door. Inside was a small living room with two armchairs. The yellow chair was empty while in the pink chair sat an eldery woman in a pink floral dress, who Corona assumed was Soos’ Abuelita. Melody walked up to the woman so Corona followed.

 

“Corona, this is Soos’ Abuelita. Abuelita this is Corona.” Melody introduced them. Abuelita looked at Corona.

 

“Corona . . . that is an unusual name.” Abuelita stated in a soft, accented voice.

 

“It’s a nickname.” She replied with a smile, which Abuelita returned.

 

“Corona’s going to be staying the night. She has nowhere to go.” Melody explained.

 

“Ok. I am so glad you and Soos are taking in a child. You two will make great parents.” Melody flushed bright red and walked, embarrassed, back to the shop. Abuelita chuckled, stood up and turned the TV off. “Come child. Let us get you settled.” She began to walk up the stairs, Corona followed.

 

“Do you wish to share a room with me, or would you rather sleep on your own?” Abuelita asked kindly. Corona thought about the times she’d woken up screaming because of one of her visions.

 

“Alone please.” She didn’t want to offend the woman “I’m an insomniac.” She added. Abuelita nodded in understanding. She led Corona down the hall to a door that had heaps of stickers on it. She opened the door to reveal a rather large bedroom with twin beds and a separate bathroom. She turned around to thank Abuelita, to find her already walking down the hallway.

 

“I will leave you to get settled.” She said with a smile before disappearing through another door. Since she had some time to herself she may as well freshen up. She dumped her bag on the left bed (the other one was covered in glitter), grabbed her toiletries and went to the bathroom. It looked like someone had come in with a hammer. Half the tiles were cracked and there were stickers everywhere. She splashed some water on her face and looed in the mirror. She looked like shit. She had dark bags under her electric blue eyes, since she’d only had 4 hours sleep the night before. Her hair desperately needed to be brushed, as did her teeth. She was glad she’d bought toothpaste at the bus station.

 

When she was done, her teeth were clean, her morning breath gone and her hair perfectly straight (she could never make it otherwise). She walked back into the bedroom and plopped down on the bed. She looked out the weirdly shaped window. It was triangular and tinted yellow. _Huh. Weird._ She thought. She took her combat boots off to stretch her toes and lay down on the bed. She gazed up at the ceiling. There were many different colours and types of mold on the wooden beams above her. One of them had a piece of paper stuck to it, naming the green, furry-looking mold; Darryl. _Yeah . . . that’s not sanitary._ She’d have to clean that up. Her stomach grumbled. _But before that, lunch._ She took all the money out of her purse, sans $20. She’d heard some of the tourists talking about a place called Greasy’s Diner.

 

She walked down the stairs, intent on riding to the diner on her bike. She saw Melody behind the counter and went over to tell her where she was going, if they were looking after her they should know where she is.

 

“Hey Melody! I’m going to ride over to Greasy’s diner for lunch!” she called.

 

“Oh great. Soos and I can go with you. We were just closing up anyways and I would kill for some pancakes!”

 

“Ok, cool.” Corona agreed

 

“Soos! We’re going out for lunch! You wanna come?”

 

“Sure. That’s fine with me.” Soos said appearing from what was probably his bedroom. He wasn’t dressed in his suit anymore, instead he was wearing sneakers, a baseball cap, khaki shorts and a dark green t-shirt with a question mark on it.

 

“You and that handyman’s uniform.” Melody teased. She gave him a light peck on the cheek. The three of them walked outside. Corona looked around for her bike. Now that she thought about it, she’d never taken it off the bus. She face palmed

 

Soos looked at her questionably. “What’s the matter, dawg?”

 

“I left my bike on the bus?” It sounded more like a question than an answer.

 

“Oh, that’s ok Corona. You can use the golf cart if you need to go anywhere.” Melody offered, pointing to the white golf cart parked next to the shack. The tarp cover was ripped but otherwise appeared to be in pretty good condition.

 

“Thanks.” Corona smiled. They piled into Soos’ truck and drove to Greasy’s Diner. The outside of the building looked like a giant log. The sign out front read: **Greasy’s Diner: We have food.** Corona chuckled. They went inside and sat down at a booth in the back of the diner. A woman with piled up grey hair and a lazy eye came over to take their order. Melody and Soos were sharing one bench, they were sitting close to each other, making lovey-dovey eyes. That, of course, left Corona alone on the other side, facing the rest of the diner. They were all staring at her. She self-consciously adjusted her beanie so that it covered her forehead and, more importantly, her birthmark. She hugged her knees to her chest. The couple noticed Corona’s unease and turned around to see what was happening. Melody gave them all a stern look.

“Uh, dudes. I think there’s too much fire in the kitchen.” Soos said, pointing to the kitchen. Sure enough, there were flames filling the small area.

 

“Ah! My hat! My hat’s is on fire!” an old man screamed running around madly. He had a long white beard and wore no shoes, just a pair of brown overalls.

 

“Here Hill-billy, billy, billy!” Soos called. The man looked up and came running towards their table. Corona poured her glass over water over the man’s head, extinguishing the flame.

 

“There you are. Sorry you got wet.” Corona apologized, offering a napkin.

 

“No need.” The man said. He shook himself off like a dog, soaking the three others. Corona took her beanie off to squeeze the water out, revealing her birthmark for a split-second. The old man’s eyes widened and his crazed smile turned to an expression of fear.

 

“Yroo Xrksvi! Girzmtov! Waterdrop has come! The one-eyed beast, once defeated, shall rise again. NZTMRUB!” The old man yelled before doing a weird jig and running out the back door screaming;

 

“No on is safe! History shall repeat itself!”

 

Corona turned to look back at Soos and Melody. “What was that all about?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Never mind all that :P*
> 
> DV’OO NVVG ZTZRM . . . . . 
> 
> How do you guys think I went with Melody? I wanted her to be mentioned more than Soos because she isn’t in the show much. 
> 
> O’Higgins means ‘knowledge or ingenuity’. It seemed fitting for Caitlyn/Corona’s surname.
> 
> I hope you liked the first chapter. The first of many. I have BIG plans for this fic (WORLD DOMINATION). Please leave kudos if you did enjoy this.


	2. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill makes an appearance and a part from McGucket's POV.

**McGucket’s POV**

“No one is safe! History shall repeat itself!” he screamed as he ran back to the mansion. He had slowly been regaining his memories since his adventures in the Society of the Blind Eye. Seeing that girl had triggered something important, something not even Stanford knew. When he reached the mansion he used the phone to call Stanford.

 

“Hello?” A familiar voice answered.

 

“Stanford! I remembered something! Something important!”

 

“I’m a tad busy now Fiddleford. Can it wait?” in the distance McGucket could hear Stanley calling out to his brother.

 

“Point Dexter, gimme a hand would ya?!”

 

“It’s about Bill Cipher!” Stanford drew in a fearful breath.

 

“Go on.” He encouraged

 

“After I quit the portal project, I went exploring in the caves. I found the wheely-majiggy. My goggles magnified the image. There were two more symbols, one in each of Cipher’s hands. They were really small!”

 

“This is terrible! With these two in play, Bill could come back. Do you know who they are?” Stanford asked.

 

“One of them yes. During Wierdmageddon, I was doing some snooping around and I overheard Bill talking about ‘Teardrop’ and ‘Gumnut’. Waterdrop has a special mark, a birthmark on her forehead, looks like a star constellation of some sort. She looks as though to be Dipper and Mabel’s age.”

 

“If Bill was talking about them during Wierdmageddon then he must’ve had a back-up plan in place. He may be or may have manipulated them.”

 

“I’ll do some investigating.” He promised.

 

“Good. Stanley and I will be back soon. Couple of days before Summer starts. Keep an eye on her and try to find the other.”

 

“Will do! McGucket out!” He hung up.

 

**Corona’s POV**

Corona turned around to face Soos and Melody. “Is that normal for him?” She asked, jabbing her thumb towards the door.

 

“Uh. Sort of.” Soos said. “He used to be much worse. That was until we got his memories back last summer . . . and, I’m just going to stop talking now” He glanced awkwardly towards the ground.

 

“Who’s ‘we’ exactly?” Corona asked.

 

***Soos explaining what he, Dipper and Mabel got up to last summer, trying to avoid saying anything about the supernatural . . . and failing***

“ . . . They even helped me hook up with Melody.” He paused to give his wife a peck on the cheek. Melody’s face turned bright red. She playfully swatted at Soos’ hand. “Yeah, they’re great kids. You remind me of them a little bit. You guys look alike. They’re coming back next week too, so you’ll get to meet them!”

 

They paid for their unfinished food (after the old man shook water all over it, it kind of put them off eating it) and left the diner. The car ride back was silent apart from the music playing. Soos was playing a song called Straight Blanchin’. Corona thought it was annoying but didn’t say anything. She knew better than to judge people’s taste in music.

 

In the silence of the car ride, Corona thought about everything Soos had done for her. She’d only known him for 2-3 hours and already he had done more for her than her own father. (Pretty messed up.) She wanted to repay Soos and Melody in some way, especially since she was living with them. _What could I do?_ She thought.

 

They pulled up next to the Shack and got out of the car. There was no lock on the back door so they walked straight inside. “Um . . . Melody, Soos. You’ve done so much for me and I wanted you to know that if there’s anything I can do to pay you back . . . “

 

“Well, there is one thing you could do. We’re pretty understaffed right now, since Wendy only works during the summer.”

 

“I’ll do it.” Corona stated.

 

“Great! You will be paid for your time!” Melody said happily

 

“Oh no, that’s alright. You guys are already doing so much for me.”

 

“Nope. Too bad. You’re being paid, besides it’s not like we don’t have the money. We get a few tourists during the year and with no Wendy around there’s no one to be paid.” Melody argued with a triumphant smile.

 

“Ok, ok, I surrender!” Corona laughed.

 

“That great, guys because we got some tourists.” Soos called. “Corona, do you want to make some new attractions? The tourists are starting to realise that a jackalope is an actual creature!”

 

“Sure thing Boss!” She saluted. She went outback and found a bag of animal parts. _Gross!_ She sewed random parts together until the final product was revealed a few hours later. It had bat wings, fish tail, a hairless cat body and head, and goat horns. “I call it . . . Glompers.”

 

“Baaaa! Corona heard something bleat. She screamed and dropped Glompers, luckily it stayed together. She turned around and saw a goat staring at her through the window.

 

“And there’s a goat staring into my soul.” She deadpanned. “For a second there, I thought Glompers had come alive!” The goat bleated again. She couldn’t hear any costumers in the shop so she went to ask Melody and Soos about the goat, only to find them making out on the counter. Corona awkwardly cleared her throat.

 

“Um, hi. Do you guys have a goat or do they just hang around here?” Corona asked, awkwardly.

 

“Oh yeah. That’s Gompers.” Soos was interrupted by Gompers bleating. “He’s been here for years. He bleats when you say his name or anything close to it.”

 

“Cool!”

 

“Yeah it is! C’mon I’ll show you something even cooler.” Soos ran out the door with Melody and Corona not far behind.

They found Gompers by the window where Corona had seen him. Soos started teasing the goat by saying its name at different speeds and intervals, causing Gompers to bleat accordingly. Eventually the goat got fed up a ripped a part of Soos’ shorts off, chewing on it smugly. Soos scowled at the goat while Melody and Corona laughed their heads off.

 

“It’s on goat. Next time I’ll win and then I’ll be the one to chew on your pants!” Soos said seriously.

 

“B-but Soos, g-goats don’t w-wear pants!” Melody exclaimed, laughing even harder.

 

“Oh yeah. Sorry dudes.” Soos said, back to his usual self. The sky was tinged orange as the sun began to set. “Woah dudes. Time sure flies, huh? Corona, you should come check this out! Melody and I go up here all the time!” Soos said, walking back inside. He moved a brightly coloured curtain to reveal a ladder.

 

“You get the best view up here.” He and Melody began climbing the ladder. Corona followed them onto the roof of the Mystery Shack. A little ways down was a porch with a deck chair, umbrella and a cooler. They skillfully maneuvered their way down and sat on the edge with their feet dangling off the side.

 

Soos offered a can of Pitt Cola to Melody and Corona before grabbing one for himself from the cooler. They sat there, on the roof until all traces of the sun set were gone. They used Melody’s phone’s flashlight to safely get back to the ladder. Once they were back inside the shack, Corona wished Melody and Soos goodnight before heading to bed. On her way, she called into Abuelita’s room to wish her goodnight as well. She changed into a more comfortable pair of leggings and a t-shirt and passed out the second her head hit the pillow.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

She woke up in a grayscale version of her room. _What the hell?_

“Welcome to the Mindscape, kid!” a high, nasally voice called.

 

“Who’s there?” She asked. _This is weird._ She thought. _Is this another vision? It doesn’t feel like one._

“You’re right, Teardrop! This isn’t one of your visions! Although that is why I’m here.” The voice said as a golden triangle with a single eye, black arms and legs, bowtie and a top hat appeared. “The name’s Bill Cipher!” He said as he hovered around her. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you Teardrop!”

 

 

“What do you want from me?” She asked in a quiet voice, fearful of his answer.

 

“I want to make a deal!”

 

“What? A deal?”

 

“I’ve been watching you for a while now . . .” Corona shuddered. _Creepy._ “. . . and I’ve got to say, while your little talent is quite useful, it is also limited. So, I make your power stronger and help you control it and in return you do a favor for me. Do we have a deal?” He extended his hand to her.

 

She thought about Bill’s offer. If her talent was stronger, she could help more people and being able to control it would be nice. Maybe then she could actually get a good night’s sleep. “Deal.” She took his hand, not worrying about the cobalt blue flames that ignited.

 

“I’ll see you soon kid! Until then, I’ll leave you to _see_.” In a blink of an eye, Bill disappeared and the Mindscape faded away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't put Soos' explanation of last summer in because it takes forever to write ad because it's over 200 words long.


	3. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A departure. More Bill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, you may or may not have noticed that I changed the nickname Bill gave Corona. Sorry about that, I've been changing that a lot. but it is 100% staying Teardrop.

**Sunday**

When she woke up in the morning, she thought that it was just another vision. That wasn’t until she realised 2 things.

 

  1. She hadn’t dreamt in 9 years.



 

  1. Her hand had a message written on it in a neat cursive script.



_It wasn’t a dream nor a vision._

_-Bill_

What was it then if it wasn’t a dream a dream nor a vision? And what is Bill? Her head rushed as her mind searched through the past. She saw an old man, maybe in his sixties? Seventies?

 

“Bill is a dream demon.” He said. _Ok. Well, that was weird._ She used her left hand to rub her head. As she pulled it away she noticed more writing from Bill.

 

 _Your strengthened talent might take a little getting used to. Quick! Think about your birth!_ Thanks to her vivid imagination, the ‘lucky’ girl got to see her birth from a third person perspective. She shuddered.

 

“Bill! What the hell!” she didn’t know if the demon could hear her or not, but she didn’t care. That was messed up. She was beginning to hate this demonic triangle.

 

Time to start the day! She got up and rummaged through her bag for a clean top. She found a black t-shirt her brother brought back from Canada. It had the country’s name spelt in silver sequins. She wore a grey, zip-up hoodie over the top. A pair of light grey jeans were tucked into her black combat boots.

 

When she came downstairs Soos and Melody were already sitting at the tables, their faces grave. When Corona walked in they put on fake smiles.

 

“Uh, yeah d-dude! How’d you sleep?” Soos asked, awkwardly.

 

“Good. I had a nice dream- the first one I’ve had in a long time.” _Technically it’s not lying._ She still felt bad though.

 

“So I uh . . . heard you yelling at someone named Bill” They both flinched at the name. She wondered what their history with Bill was. Her mind went through the past and she saw all the terrible things Bill had done to them . . . their friends . . . their family. She clenched her fists. _I never should have made that deal with him. Stupid. Stupid._ Now it was too late. She owed him a favour. She hoped it wasn’t to spend the next 30 years building an interdimensional portal.

 

“Just some friend from back home. He explained in very clear detail what childbirth looks like. His sister just had a baby.” Bringing up the childbirth thing was a good way to clear the air. Soos looked relieved yet disturbed at her explanation.

 

“Speaking of babies! I’m pregnant!” Melody squealed.

 

“Melody, that’s great!” Corona congratulated. “You’ll both make great parents!” She remembered what Abuelita had said the day before. _Real subtle._ She laughed.

 

She took a deep breath to prepare herself. She knew what there probable reactions would be. Soos would ask silly questions and Melody would scold him for doing so . . . but both would be an act. They would both be scared for her and what she has and will see.

 

“Soos. Melody. I have to tell you something.” They motioned for her to continue. She took another deep breath and slowly pulled her bangs back to reveal her forehead. “I’ve had this birthmark my whole life.” _Way to state the obvious._ She thought.

 

“I’ve also have this . . . talent. I’ve been able to see snippets of the future since I was 4. Now, I can see the past as well. It’s like a river and each stream branching off it is a different possibility.”

 

“Dude, that’s so cool! Can you, like, see what’s going to happen in the next 5 minutes?” Soos asked eagerly.

 

“I can see that . . .” She paused to _see._ She pointed to Soos “You’re going to keep asking me questions and Melody is going to playfully scold you for it. And Abuelita is . . .” Her face turned pale.

 

“Hold that thought.” She raced from the kitchen to the bathroom and grabbed a bucket and a few towels before sprinting up the stairs to Abuelita’s room, just in time to hold the bucket in front of her to catch the throw-up. This was the first of many times. She felt the tears slip from her eyes. _Poor Soos._ She had about a minute before they came in. she had to say it before that happened.

 

“I’m so sorry Abuelita. You’re not going to make it through this.” The tears were flowing faster now. She felt a hand rest on hers.

 

“It is okay child. I have done all I wished to do a long time ago.” She said, calmly. “All I’ve wanted is for Soos to find someone, and now he has. He and Melody are perfect for each other. I can go happily and at peace.” She smiled.

 

“Soos and Melody will make your last hour’s good ones. I’ll go get some more buckets and some tissues.” Corona smiled sadly and waved as she walked out of the room. Soos and Melody had just finished climbing the stairs and were looking at her with worried and confused expressions. Upon seeing her tears they stiffened.

 

“No. She’s ok . . . for now. Make sure you don’t leave her side – she hasn’t got much time left.” She said sadly and hugged the couple tightly. She walked downstairs and decided to close the shop since there was no point in having it open anyways. She walked outside and sat on a log next to Gompers. She therapeutically combed her fingers through his fur.

 

“I don’t know what to do Gompers” The goat bleated. “I don’t know what to do about Bill. I’ve seen all the horrible things he’s done and all the terrible things he will do. I **know** that there’s a tiny chance he’ll change but I’m too scared to take that risk.” Gompers nuzzled his head into Corona’s side. She smiled and mussed the goat’s head.

 

“Thanks boy. I don’t know if you understood what I just said or if you can sense I’m sad but . . . it really helped to say that aloud to someone, so thank you.” She rested her head on Gompers. It was surprisingly comfortably. She felt herself drifting off to sleep.

 

She could feel Bill’s presence the second she entered the Mindscape. She stayed silent, for now, she already knew what he wanted. He appeared in front of her.

 

“Did ya miss me? Admit it, you missed me!” Corona said nothing, she just stared at him. “Jeez kid, lighten up a bit would ya! I’m not going to kill you.” Corona’s features darkened.

 

“ **Yet.** ” Corona stated. “You could kill me anytime you wanted and there would be nothing I could do about it. Amongst millions of timelines, I only live to my 14th birthday in 4 of them!” She glared at him.

 

“That’s life.” He shrugged. “Besides you still owe me a favour. Whether you like it or not you have to fulfil your side of the deal.”

 

“What do you want Bill?” He turned red.

 

“I’d watch my attitude if I were you Teardrop! He returned to his normal colour “, but I’m glad you asked. I want you to set me free. I don’t care how you do it, just that you do.”

 

“Ok? . . . What are you going to do when I bring you back? Are you going to start up Wierdmageddon again?”

“There’s no point in rebooting Wierdmageddon if it can’t go global, I guess I’ll just hang around, since I really don’t have a choice, and just mess with your lives~” His eye crinkled as if he were smiling creepily. Corona nodded.

 

“I guess I’ll see you when you get back then.” She could feel herself being shaken awake.

 

“Remember: Reality is an illusion. The universe is a hologram. Buy Gold. Bye~!”

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

 

The first thing Corona saw when she woke up was Melody’s teary-eyed face.

 

“Abuelita’s gone.” She sobbed. Corona could feel herself crying too as she reached out to encase Melody in a comforting hug. “Soos is still inside with her. He’s finding it hard to cope.” Even though Corona barely knew the old woman for a day, she felt like she had known her, her whole life. Such a horrible way to go. Corona was the one to break the hug.

 

“After all of this, none of us ate breakfast.” She led Melody inside and helped her sit down on one of the armchairs, the mustard yellow one, and turned the TV on to a replay of Ducktective. _I should go up and get Soos, he loves this show._ She went into the kitchen to make breakfast for the three of them. She searched the cupboards and drawers until she had everything she needed to make pancakes. As per usual, she failed to flip the first few or burned them. She fed the ruined pancakes to Gompers, he seemed to like them. She finally successfully flipped a pancake. She slid it onto a plate and admired her work-both sides were a beautiful, golden brown-, before wrapping it in tin foil to keep it warm.

 

Once she had a reasonable pile of pancakes she distributed them between three plates, smothered them in maple syrup and ice-cream (because that always, somehow, cheers people up). She left her plate on the bench and gave Melody hers on her way to the staircase. She softly knocked on Abuelita’s bedroom door. She heard a muffled groan from inside, which she took as a signal to come in.

 

“Hey, Soos. I know you’re not feeling so great right now, so I made pancakes with extra ice-cream.” She said in an, admittedly, weak attempt to cheer him up.

 

“Just leave it here. I’ll eat it later.” Soos groaned. She put the plate on the bedside table and crouched down next to the man. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Soos, I know you feel like crap, but you gotta eat. C’mon.” she somehow managed to get him to his feet and drag him downstairs. She sat him down on the couch and went back upstairs to get his pancakes. When she came back down his eyes were glued to the TV screen and Melody was sitting next to him, stroking his arm comfortingly. She put his plate on the table in front of him and went to call the undertakers.

 

Mr and Mrs Valentino were **way** too cheerful given there line of work. It was disturbing. They said they would be around within the hour. She walked back into the living room and motioned for Melody to come with her. Once they were out of earshot Corona spoke:

 

“I called the undertakers. They’ll be around soon to collect her. I’m going with them.”  


“Are you sure, Corona? This is some pretty horrible stuff.” Melody asked, concerned.

 

“Believe me. I’ve seen **way** worse. I’ll be fine.” She promised.

 

“Ok then, if you’re sure. I’ll stay here and talk to Soos about the funeral.”

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

Corona decided to go into Abuelita’s room. She opened the door slowly to reveal Abuelita laying in her bed with the covers drawn up to her chin. She looked so peaceful she could be mistook to simply be asleep. Corona sat down in the chair next to her bed, and wrapped the deceased woman’s hands in her own.

 

“You were lucky y’know. To go so peacefully. I can’t imagine how much pain you must have been in. Even so, you should have been here for longer. Now you’ll never get to meet your granddaughter. They’re going to name her after you, you know. She’ll be Marie Alzamirano Ramirez the second.” Corona said fondly. Her fondness turned to anger when she saw what caused her death. Weirdness. _That damn triangle._

 

“That stupid apocalypse did this to you. Did you know that? It was your time as an armchair and all the ‘Weirdness Waves’ that gave you this incurable disease. You did so much for Soos and the others, they’d be so proud of you. You’re so strong. You fought it for as long as you could, but in the end, I guess it was stronger.” A single teardrop fell from eye, onto the woman’s forehead. Downstairs, the doorbell rang. She patted the elderly woman’s hand and left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on Polyvore to see outfit designs for some of these characters. *WARNING SPOILERS*  
> http://www.polyvore.com/unseen_future/collection?id=5921493 
> 
> You can also find me on Pinterest.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudos and a comment if you enjoyed, or to criticize, that's cool too.


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